Texas · Nonprofit
FAMILIES EMPOWERED
FAMILIES EMPOWERED (Texas) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,302,239 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($573,913). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 45
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $125k
What Families Empowered does
Mission
Families Empowered is a texas-based non-profit whose mission is to empower families to engage in a marketplace of schools.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Houston school choice support services for families: Families Empowered supports families looking for school options in the greater houston, texas region by providing families with tools and resources for selecting a school and helping them navigate the application process. Families Empowered also makes parents aware of nearby schools that have open seats, in a timely manner and conducts outreach to families via live telephone support with bilingual customer service representatives, targeted email campaigns, live events (I.e. School connection fairs, school choice-related events, etc.), text messaging, autodials, the organization's websites and social media.
$238,499 spent$353,802 earned by the program28% of program spendingTarrant county school choice support services for families: Families Empowered supports families looking for school options in the tarrant county, texas region by providing families with tools and resources for selecting a school and helping them navigate the application process. Families Empowered also makes parents aware of nearby schools that have open seats, in a timely manner and conducts outreach to families via live telephone support with bilingual customer service representatives, targeted email campaigns, live events (I.e. School connection fairs, school choice-related events, etc.), text messaging, autodials, the organization's website and social media.
$220,634 spent$320,579 earned by the program25% of program spendingSan antonio school choice support services for families: Families Empowered supports families looking for school options in the greater san antonio, texas region by providing families with tools and resources for selecting a school and helping them navigate the application process. Families Empowered also makes parents aware of nearby schools that have open seats, in a timely manner and conducts outreach to families via live telephone support with bilingual customer service representatives, targeted email campaigns, live events (I.e. School connection fairs, school choice-related events, etc.), text messaging, autodials, the organization's website and social media.
$217,083 spent$270,579 earned by the program25% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$190,480 spent22% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $866,696.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $223k to $896k (+301%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
79% of FAMILIES EMPOWERED’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Patricia Colleen Dippel
Founder and CEO
Board chair
Leo Linbeck Iii
Board chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $287k → $734k.
7 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of FAMILIES EMPOWERED’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
FAMILIES EMPOWERED has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
37% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund FAMILIES EMPOWERED.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 55% · 2019 57% · 2020 37% · 2021 31% · 2022 21% · 2023 27% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
43% of FAMILIES EMPOWERED's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
74% of FAMILIES EMPOWERED's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $997k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
FAMILIES EMPOWERED runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like FAMILIES EMPOWERED
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
60%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FAMILIES EMPOWERED: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds FAMILIES EMPOWERED?
- FAMILIES EMPOWERED (Texas) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,302,239 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($573,913). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FAMILIES EMPOWERED have?
- IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $4,302,239 in grants to FAMILIES EMPOWERED, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FAMILIES EMPOWERED?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $573,913 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FAMILIES EMPOWERED find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Families Empowered →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 45 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing